Since  my first encounter with this word, I have learned much about it.  I am also attempting to give my children this kind of writing education.  Attempting is the  operative word.  To clear up your confusion, Progymnasmata is a series of writing exercises that the Ancient Greeks used to teach their students.  These  exercises  or levels,  if you will,  teach not only writing, but logic and rhetoric as well.   The students  learned to master the fourteen levels of the Progym by analyzing and imitating the Masters of speech and literature.  When they were adept at doing that, then they would move on to using what they had learned into their own  compositions. Content was just as important as style. Some of these exercises  are  retelling, amplifying a saying, arguing,  praising a person,  blaming a person,  and comparison. 

The Progymnasmata intrigues me.  I think it is because it has writing, logic, and rhetoric all rolled up in to one.  I know there are people that teach the Progym without a curriculum.  I am usually a do-it-yourself-er, but I don't have the confidence to do this without a big safety net.   It helps to have a writing curriculum  that focuses on the Progym.  There are a few curricula that are available.  The program that I chose for my kids is Classical Writing.   It is a series of books based on the exercises of the Progymnasmata.   I have used CW Aesop and we are now dipping our toes into CW Homer.

We enjoyed Aesop and I found it very easy to use, but it did take awhile to get a grasp of all of its intricacies.   The set up of CW is that you take a 30 minute chunk of time in the morning and do the analyzing  portion of the program, then later on in the day you start working on the writing project.  The one great thing about CW is that it is flexible.  You do not have to do it the way that the authors suggest.  You mold it to fit your family.  For us, spending close to an hour on a writing program  would not fly well, so we take one week for the analyzing and a second week for the writing project.  This worked very well for us with Aesop.  I am not sure yet if this will work for Homer.

During the years that we were using Aesop, I had heard horror stories about trying to implement Homer.   I had heard that there was a huge learning curve with this  level.  I had also heard that if you could master Homer  then the subsequent levels  were easier.  If you could just get over the Homer hurdle then you would be set.  I looked towards Homer with fear.   How could I, a bear of little brain, master this kind of  program?   I have since found the answer: by doing my homework.  I  bought Homer in the fall of last year even though I didn't need it until this fall.  I  poured over the books.  I spent many a night trying to wrap my brain around all of the skill levels, and just how this would look in a practical sense.  After all of my work, the fear has subsided.  CW Homer doesn't scare me anymore.  I think that this is doable.

Now we are only on the third  lesson,  but so far it is going very well.  I am learning that with all learning, not just writing, baby steps are key.   It is important  to lay the groundwork before you expect your student to master the big picture.  It is all in the baby steps.  CW gives you those baby steps.

With CW I am more confident now  that I just might be able to teach my children those writing exercises that are of the Progymnasmata. 

Julia lives on the Canadian Prairies with her husband, homeschooling their 3 children and attempting to give them a Classical Education.  You can read more at her blog.

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